Co-signed and repped. The statement "a color-blind society would be great" most often translates to "it would be great if everyone just adopted white culture, so I wouldn't be uncomfortable around minorities anymore."
maybe, i think one of the features of the melting pot is that what comes out is a blend of what went in. a salad bowl has much more distinct elements. might taste good, but there's always the danger it will just fall apart.
That's the whole point. I'd much rather have the distinct elements and risk the danger of it falling apart.
This is an awesome post. It often amazes me how people think the 'cure' to racism is this weird colorblind theory.
I've never had a salad that "fell apart". Just sayin. Maybe a chilli dog or one of those huge burritos ...but a salad is what it is. Just get a fork and eat. If you pick and choose which parts of the salad you eat, chances are that YOU are a picky eater. It's no reflection on the salad. The next person would have no problem eating it all.
I presume he means other minority groups who do not get that kind of recognition or exceptional treatment. I am in agreement with the ;no ethnic studies in high school' camp. If you have legitimate interest in area or ethnic studies, pursue it in college. Compulsory public education is not the place for it. Same goes for religious studies in public schools. What we need more of, no doubt, are more foreign languages integrated into the basic curriculum, and earlier than just in high school. Imagine if schools compelled kids to pick and learn a foreign language starting in elementary school, or even middle school, it would make a big difference in the overall quality of our education. This is pretty much the case in many, many other countries. I was forced to pick between English, French and German in an Egyptian school.
I believe the courses that inspired the law were electives. Students could choose to take them or not.
A desirable, more colorblind society IS possible, but it requires that we talk about the history of racism and what "color" is so people can truly understand the illusionary nature of it. There are too many people who today hold misunderstandings of what "race" and "color" are that banning ethnic studies classes are only going to leave the old wounds unhealed. Nobody wants that. I've noticed growing up that school textbooks give you the perspectives of individual (usually male) people of European ancestry, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Christopher Columbus, Isaac Newton, and Galileo, but when it comes to the history of people of non-European ancestry, it's usually lumped together as the history or perspective of "a people" or region (the theory of heliocentrism was popularized by Copernicus, the printing press was invented by Gutenberg, the lightbulb was invented by Thomas Edison; gunpowder was invented by...the Chinese, the use of certain North American plants for medicinal purposes was developed by...the Native Americans, the didgeridoo was invented by...Aborigines, or simply not mentioned at all, serving to dehumanize those accomplishments as if they were done by faceless masses of replaceable and interchangeable entities, instead of the unique individuals responsible for that notable event in human history that each person was. This creates many dangerous misperceptions, and is VERY harmful to a society where people from different ancestries come in contact and strives for peace. Also, people have different perspectives on life. Mainstream American schools all teach things like science and math, in the tradition and spirit of European schools, while some other cultures revolve around spiritual and artistic endeavors. That in itself is a culture clash and an example of the marginalization of ways of life in this country that are different from the Euro-derived culture. Problems don't go away when they are ignored.
I actually like this bill... Stop wasting time on learning what was, spend more time on what is important. Science, math and writing are the only things that are important. After those subjects it should go: PE, art, then the social sciences. People, we have to compete with the rest of the world, in Venezuela kids are learning algebra in like the 4th grade. We need to catch up, fast. Heck, look at the chinese. Those kids know chinese by the 5th grade, how many American students know chinese by the 5th grade?!
In California schools kids learn algebra starting in 2nd grade. History is also important. I'm entirely sure if this post wasn't a joke
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. -George Santayana
What was wrong with my question? I was merely asking if anyone else thought Arizona might want to pull a Texas and start rewriting the history books, in this case to prevent possible resentment of white people.
I don't think it diminishes your point, but we know who Copernicus, Gutenberg, and Edison are. The name of the inventor of gunpowder is lost to history.
I'm ashamed to be a teacher in AZ at this point. This is strike two for Governor Brewer...Next one, I'm out of here. You don't ignore history, oppression or not. We're not China, and we don't pretend like certain events/attitudes do not exist. Oppression, racism and prejudice STILL exist today, so it is evident that oppression-based disucssions need to take place. If anything, SB1070 and this new piece of garbage both oppress any person of color.
You must have forgotten the importance of your own education, or you haven't stepped into a public or charter school for a very,very long time.
Academics can be cultural or geographic, but they shouldn't be race-based. This is a step in the right direction, away from identification by race. Mexican studies is one thing, hispanic studies is another. African studies is one thing, black studies is another. And if race and culture are one in the same, that's also something we need to diminish. We need to discourage race as an important part of one's identity. We should strive for the day when it's as irrelevant as eye color. Abolishing programs that elevate racial identity is a good start.
often culture is a result of the experiences particular to one race. To ignore those factors isn't educating anyone, it's censoring information that should be part of education.
